Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-03-09
MARSHALL HoNoRED.

MARSHALL HON0RED.
a Monument to be Erected to His Mem
DRY in Ell Dorado County.
Both branches of the Legislature have
passed, and the Governor has signed, As
sembly bill No. 800, introduced by Mailer
of Ell Dorado county, which reads as fol-
lows
| Section l. There is appropriated out of moneys
in the general fund of the State the sum of
| 1000 to erect q monument to the memory of
James w. Marshall. over his grave at Coloma,
| Fl Dorado county, State of California
| Section 2. The Controller is hereby authorized
| TO draw his warrant for said amount, at the re-
quest of Board of Commissioners, to consist of
! three citizens of the State of California, who
shall be named by the Governor of the State of
California within thirty days after this Act shall
take effect.
Section 8. The said Board is hereby authorized
10 erect suitable monument to carry out the
purposes of this Act, at an expense not to exceed
Section 4. This Act shall take effect imme-
diately.
James w. Marshall emigrated from New
Jersey to Oregon in 1S4S, and from Oregon
to California in 1874 Here he engaged in
farming and stock-raising in small way
until the breaking out of the Mexican
War, when he
ENLISTED N THE CALIFORNIA BATTALION,
Under Fremont, served faithfully through
his term of enlistment, and received an
honorable discharge. Returning home,
Marshall found his horses and cattle gone
some strayed, others stolen-and in or
der to obtain means to buy other stock and
put his place to rights, he applied to Cap
tain Suffer for work. Marshall was then
about 50 years OF age unmarried, faithful,
eccentric, and is said to have been exceed
ingly stubborn. He obtained immediate
employment from Captain Suffer, and
proved an ingenious mechanic, making
himself quite useful in the construction of
chairs tables and all those articles of house
hold furniture so much needed in a new
settlement. Lumber was in great demand
among the settlers of the Sacramento val
ley, their number having been considerably
augmented by the arrival of Mormons and
others from beyond the mountains. Mar
shall being a lumberman, and competent
to manage the enterprise, he was dispatched
by Captain Suffer, with an Indian guide
and interpreter, to the mountains, in May,
lS47, to select a site for a sawmill. Mar
shall returned and reported that he had
found good location, on the south fork of
fort, at a point called by the Indians Gull
loo-ma, which means beautiful vale and
which is the site OF
THE BEAUTIFUL LITTLE TOWN OF coLoMA.
The water power was sufficient, pine
trees plentiful and a Mexican cart could
pass without difficulty between the fort
and the proposed site of the sawmill.
Some delay occurred, and it was not until
August, 1877. that Captain Suffer finally
arranged with Marshall to superintend the
erection and running of the sawmill. The
mill was completed in January, 1913, and
they had Just commenced saving, when,
on the night of February 2, 1913, Marshall
appeared at Suffers Fort, his horse in
foam and himself presenting a singular
appearance-all despatched with mud and
laboring under an extraordinary degree of
excitement. He Immediately requested
Captain Suffer to go with him into a room
where they could be alone. This request
was granted. and after the door was closed
Marshall asked Captain Suffer if he was
sure they would not be disturbed, and de-
sired that the door might be locked. Cap
tain Suffer did not know what to make of
his actions, and began to think it hazard
GUS to lock himself in room with man
who acted so strangely. Marshall took
from his pocket pouch, from which he
poured upon the table
ABOUT AN OUNCE OF YELLOW GRAINS
OF metal which he thought would prove
to be gold. Marshall said that in the
morning, the water being shut off from the
mill race be discovered in passing through
the race, shining particles here and there
on the bottom. On examination he found
them to be of metallic substance, and the
thought flashed over him that they might
be gold Marshall said that the laborers-
white and Indian-had picked. up some of
the particles, and thought large quantity
could be collected.
Captain Suffer was quite incredulous as
to these particles being gold, but happen
ing to have bottle of nitric acid among
his stores, he applied the test. and, true
enough, the yellow grains proved to be
pure gold The great discovery was made
View these men as they sit at the hour
of midnight in the dimly lighted room of
that adobe fort, the other side of the world
to everybody but themselves.
ISOLATED, ALL UNKSowISG AND UNKNOWN;
One an educated, polished gentleman from
Europe the other a plain, honest me-
chanic from the United States Regard
them as they examine those little yellow
grains and learn that they are gold. The
action of no King on his throne. no war
rior at the head of his army, no statesman
or legislative body that ever existed, was
more conducive 10 events of the highest
import to the human race than was
that of these two humble, private
individuals when they sat at the mid !
night hour secluded and lonely in |
that then remote country, and discovered |
they were handling gold. A singular CO.
incidence was the fact that, on the very
day-perhaps the very moment-ihat Mar
shall discovered the grains of gold in the /
foothills of Ell Dorado, the treaty that
closed the Mexican war and gave us Cali
fornia was signed in the City of Mexico.
The acquisition of California and the |
discovery of gold are events beyond the |
range of mans calculation in their in
fiuence on the destiny of the great Ameri- !
can Republic.
REPUBLICS ARE USGRATEFUL,
Is an oft-repeated expression. and in this
instance truism. Marshall lived poor |
man, and died in AFFECT want and poverty. |
Not long since he was found dead in his
cabin near the town of Kelsey, some five |
miles from Coloma. He had been dead |
some time, there was nothing in his cabin
to eat. and 1t is thought by some that this |
distinguished pioneer, who had been re- |
fused small pittance from the California |
Legislature, had actually died of starvation. |
1t seems incredible that the rich and great
State of California, the generous instincts |
and liberal views of whose people never
allow them to do anything of patriotic,
honorable and just character on a small
scale, could see their great pioneer pass
from earth unknown, unhonored, and in
want-could see the sun which illumined
life so genial and good; life that has
yielded, through hardship, toll and courage
Gus exposure. such immense national bene-
fit, go down in penury, sorrow and gloom
His remains quietly sleep in the little
graveyard in the beautiful vale where
he made the discovery that electrified the
-.-orld x-oarS otro